Clerical and political conservatives vie for upper hand in Iran election

A man shouts slogans as he distributes electoral leaflets of the United Conservatives' Front candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections outside the Tehran University compound on Feb. 24, 2012.

Campaigning has begun for Iran's March 2 parliamentary election, the first nationwide vote since the disputed 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that sparked eight months of unrest and a crushing state response.

3,444 candidates are standing for election to the 290-seat parliament. Officials and state media have called for a big turnout to counter "enemies' threats" against the regime.

Morteza Nikoubazl / Reuters

A woman holds election leaflets in central Tehran on Feb. 24, 2012.

With a no-show by leading pro-reform groups, loyalists of Iran's most powerful figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and backers of Ahmadinejad, who is not a cleric, will compete for a majority.

Khamenei's supporters, sharply critical of Ahmadinejad's economic policies, look set to win the vote as international sanctions imposed over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme make life harder for ordinary Iranians.

"Iran has become a one-party system: the party of Khamenei," said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran analyst at the Carnegie Endowment. "The most important qualification for aspiring members of parliament is obsequiousness to the Supreme Leader."